Clothes line pins



Dec. 19, 1961 J. E. HOFF CLOTHES LINE PINS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed June 29. 1959 FIG.2

JNVENTOR JOHN E. HOFF his atrorneys.

Dec. 19, 1961 J. E. HOFF 3,013,654

CLOTHES LINE PINS Filed June 29, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 44 5e 64 \I III, 'llll 42 so I e4 4 2 g; (t 38/ F|G.9 W %2 50 U 40 F G 8 INVENTOR.

JOHN E. HOFF BY his 0! forneys.

, 3,013,654 Patented Dec. 19, 1961 3,013,654 (ILOTHES LINE IINS John E. Hod, Penfield, N.Y., assignor to Robert F. Holf, John E. Hoff, and Frederick H. Holf, doing business as Hoff Bron, Rochester, N.Y.

Filed June 29, 1959, Ser. No. 823,483 4 Claims. (Cl. 206--56) This invention relates to clothes pins for holding clothes and the like on clothes lines. As heretofore commonly made, clothes pins have been constructed and used separately from one another, so as to require a container for a supply of pins and the inconvenient occupation of one or both hands in both holding a supply of loose pins and atfixing them to the clothes line, while one hand is needed also to arrange and hold the clothes for pinning. One object of the invention therefore is to provide a supply of clothes pins releasably connected together in an assembly or set, so that they may be conveniently held and attached to the clothes line one at a time by one hand while the other hand is left free to properly apply the clothes to the line in position for pinning.

Another object is to provide an assembled set of clothes pins of the above character so constructed as to be easily held and manipulated in one hand either to disconnect and fix the pins to the clothes and line, one at a time, or to connect the pins together and remove them from the line, one after another, in a reassembled set.

Another object is the provision of clothes pin sets having the above advantages and capable of being readily and economically manufactured by known means and materials.

To these and other ends the invention resides in certain improvements and combinations of parts, all as will be hereinafter more fully described, the novel features being pointed out in the claims at the end of the specification.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a clothes pin embodying the present invention; 7

FIG. 2 is a side elevation of an assembled set of pins such as shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 shows the assembled pins of FIG. 2 in course of application of one of the pins to a clothes line;

FIG. 4 is a top plan View of a pin assembly with one of the pins applied to a clothes line and detached from the assembly; 7

FIG. 5 shows a pin in course of being reassembled in a set and detached from the clothes line;

FIG. 6 is a side elevation, partly in section and partly broken away, of a modified form of the invention;

FIG. 7 is a top plan view of the modification of FIG. 6, partly in section and partly broken away;

FIG. 8 is a side elevation of parts shown in FIG. 6, and

FIG. 9 is an enlarged end elevation as seen from the left in FIG. 6.

The preferred embodiment of the invent-ion, herein disclosed by way of illustration, comprises a clothes pin 29 as shown in FIG. 1, having a head portion 22 and a bifurcated portion 24 formed by depending spaced prongs 26 and 28. The prongs are shaped as shown and spaced to form a slot 30 therebetween of generally tapered shape to facilitate application to and wedging on the clothes and clothes line, the adjacent sides of the slot being preferably ribbed for better gripping action.

The head portion of the pin is formed with a recess part '32 preferably of generally semi-circular shape on an arc of slightly more than 180. At one Side of the recess, the head portion is provided with a laterally extending lug 34 having a depending portion of generally r to releasably engage and retain the pins therein.

- channel has'its opposite end closed and contains a coiled semi-circular shape, as shown, and adapted to be releasably snapped into and retained in a recess part 32 of an adjacent pin. The pin is preferably molded, cut or otherwise formed from plastic material having some resiliency, as well understood in the art, and lug portion 34 may be formed with an inwardly extending kerf or slot 36 to make it more yielding and resilient for frictional cooperation with the recess part '32 of the adjacent pin in a set.

The lug 34 and recess part 32 of each pin are spaced apart, as shown, in a direction extending transversely of the longitudinal direction of a clothes line to be gripped in slot 30, and it is apparent from the above description that the lug 34 of one pin may be snapped down into the recess part 32 of an adjacent pin by relative movement in a direction transverse to the longitudinal direction of the clothes line, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, thus assembling any convenient number of such pins in line with one another in a common plane so as to be conveniently gripped in one hand, as shown in FIG. 3.

A set of the pins, assembled as described above, provides a convenient supply in orderly arrangement with the bifurcated portions extending in a common direction and capable of being easily held in one hand and applied one at a time to a clothes line 38 and an article of clothing or the like 40 hung on the line. In such use, the end pin of a set is applied by one hand with its bifurcated portion in Wedging attachment to the clothes and clothes line, as well understood in the art. After such attachment, the end pin is easily disengaged from the remaining pins of the set by disengaging its lug 34 from the recess part 32 of the adjacent pin of the set, either by movement of such parts in a direction reverse to that by which they are snapped in engagement, or by moving the set or" pins laterally to slide the recess part out of engagement with the lug 34 of the pin fixed on the line, as shown in FIG. 4.

When the pins have served their purpose, they are easily reassembled in a set by snapping the recess part 32 of an end pin of a set under the lug 34 of a pin carried by the clothes line and then lifting the latter oi? the line in reassembled relation in the set of pins. I

In the modified form of the invention shown in FIGS. 6 to 9, inclusive, the pins of the set are assembled in and dispensed from a channel-shaped holder. To this end, each pin 42 has a head portion 44 and a bifurcated portion 46 formed by spaced prongs 48 and 50 enclosing therebetween a tapered slot 52 preferably having its sides ribbed as at 54 for better gripping action. A channelshaped holder 56 of metal, plastic, or other suitable material, provides an elongated receptacle of generally rectangular shape, as shown, with the legs of the channel turned inwardly toward each other, as at 58, to form spaced pin retaining guides 60, the outer ends of which are preferably bevelled as at 62 to facilitate engagement with the pin heads. The head of each pin is shaped and dimensioned for easy sliding reception within channel 56 and the head of each pin is formed on opposite sides with slots 64 for engagement with the guides to hold the pins assembled in the channel with dependingprongs as shown in FIG. 6. A spring finger 66 is fixed to the outside of the open end of the channel, as at 68, with a portion 7%? projecting partly across the channel opening The spring 72 in compression between the closed channel end and the end pin of a set in the channel, as shown in FIG. 6. Spring 72 presses the pins toward the open end of the channel, the end pin being retained by the spring finger 66.

In the use of the modification of FIGS. 6 to 9, inclusive, the pin at the outer end of the channel is engaged over a clothes line 38 and an article of clothing 40 thereof, as shown in FlG. 8, either before or after the pin has been released by pressure of the hand against spring finger 66. The end pin having been secured in position on the clothes line and removed from the holder, spring 72 presses the next pin into position for engagement, the holder 56 and its assembly of pins being conveniently held and operated by one hand while the other hand is left free for managing the clothes line and clothes. The pins are conveniently reassembled in the holder by engaging its guides 60 with the slots of a pin on the line. Spring finger 66 may be pressed outwardly to allow the pin to enter the channel, or the head of each pin may be bevelled as at 74 so that pressure of each pin head into the channel serves to press back the spring finger 66 to allow the pin to enter.

The modification of FIGS. 6 to 9, inclusive, has advantages similar to those described above for the preferred modification, enabling an assembly of pins to be carried conveniently in the holder and held and operated by one hand to apply the pins separately to the clothes line and to remove the same therefrom for reassembly of the holder, the other hand being left free for manipulation of the clothes line and clothes.

It will thus be seen that the invention accomplishes its objects and while it has been herein disclosed by reference to the details of preferred embodiments, it is to be understood that such disclosure is intended in an illustrative, rather than a limiting sense, as it is contemplated that various modifications in the construction and arrangement of the parts will readily occur to those skilled in the art, Within the spirit of the invention and the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A clothes line pin assembly comprising a plurality of clothes pins each having a head portion and a bifurcated portion formed with a tapered clothes gripping slot, each of said head portions having parts on opposite sides thereof for releasable frictional engagement with cooperating parts of contiguous pins for releasably connecting said pins together in a set with the pins thereof in linear arrangement in a common plane and said bifurcated portions extending in a common direction for unobstructed application successively to a clothes line, said pins being separately engageable with and disengagea'ole from said set by relative movements between each pin and said set.

2. A clothes line pin assembly comprising a plurality of clothes pins each having a head portion and a bifurcated portion formed with a tapered clothes gripping slot, each of said head portions having a lug and a recess part adapted for the frictional and releasable engagement of a lug of one head portion with the recess part of a head portion of an adjacent pin for releasably securing said pins together in linear arrangement in a set and for separating each pin from said set by relative engaging and disengaging means between each pin and said set.

3. A clothes line pin assembly as specified in claim 2 in which said lug and recess parts of each pin are of cooperating rounded shape and adapted to be rclcasably snapped together.

4. A clothes line pin assembly as specified in claim 2 in which said lug and recess part of each pin are spaced apart in a direction extending transversely of the longitudinal direction of a clothes line to be gripped in said slot, for securing said pins together in juxtaposed relation with said slots spaced apart for engagement of said pins successively with a clothes line.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,614,831 Crofoot Jan. 18, 1927 2,111,40 r Pankonin Mar. 15, 1938 2,140,593 Pankonin Dec. 20, 1938 2,237,589 Dole Apr. 8, 1941 2,721,365 Olson Oct. 25, 1955 FOREIGN PATENTS 138,687 Australia Sept. 15, 1950 

